


a million dreams are keeping me awake

by charleia



Category: American Horror Story, American Horror Story: Murder House
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-17
Updated: 2019-12-17
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:34:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21833749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charleia/pseuds/charleia
Summary: A while back I promised I’d post my deaf!Billie Dean AU so here’s a tiny oneshot/drabble
Relationships: Billie Dean Howard/Nora Montgomery
Comments: 4
Kudos: 42





	a million dreams are keeping me awake

**Author's Note:**

> About a year ago (almost to date actually) I started this au for a friend. I had it up on my ao3 page up until a couple of weeks ago when I wanted to attempt a rewrite as the first version was just terribly written and they deserved so much better than the shitty thing I wrote and well, it took me a while due to circumstances and i debated as to whether I should put this up or not because I’m just not sure what to do with it and I’m still not sure, but here it is 19383 years; the rewrite

“Nora _ ,  _ enunciate,  _ please,  _ or write it down,” Billie Dean sighed softly and rubbed her eyes. Working late for five days straight was beginning to take its toll on her. “I can’t understand you, especially not like this.” A high pitched sound rang through her ears and her head throbbed with a migraine.

Billie was only fourteen years old when she started to lose hearing in her right ear. That is where it started. She had been diagnosed with Usher’s syndrome, type 3; Born with perfect audition, but as she grew older, she gradually started to lose hearing. First in her right ear, then her left. A little over two decades later, the syndrome had taken away most of her hearing, leaving her almost completely deaf.

Nora sighed impatiently and rolled her eyes. “I said,” she began, “That man, you know? Bart—”

“ _ Ben _ , sweetheart”

“Whatever. Bart has been keeping the room occupied all day, I haven’t found a moment of peace and those blasted kids, they—”

Billie Dean closely watched Nora’s lips, trying to figure out whatever she was ranting about. “Not so fast, please, I’m tired, can you start over?” A pang of guilt shot through her chest. She could sense that Nora was getting more and more frustrated about something.

“You know,” Nora set her jaw, “Never mind” she crossed her arms over her chest. “It’s not important.” She reclined on the sofa and muttered something Billie Dean didn’t quite catch.

“I’m sorry, what was that?”

“It’s  _ nothing _ ” Nora glared, “I said,  _ ‘Never mind’ _ ” 

Hurt wrecked through Billie Dean’s entire body. As if stung by a bee, she pulled back the hand that had lovingly rested on Nora’s knee. “Don’t be like this, sweetie, I am trying to help you. Please just let me help you.” Billie Dean sighed softly, willing herself not to cry. While she hadn’t yet bothered to learn how to sign, Nora always had the utmost patience whenever Billie struggled. This behaviour was nowhere near how she usually acted.

After years of living with her disability she had tried to master the skill of lipreading but it wasn’t particularly easy. Every now and then, when she had a particularly bad headache, she struggled even more, and she couldn’t always register what exactly was being said, especially with Nora, who had the tendency to talk very fast and use wild, dramatic gestures, often obscuring her mouth from view. Billie Dean knew that, with Nora’s cognitive abilities being impaired, learning an entirely new language wasn’t very easy, nut sometimes she wished Nora would just  _ try _ . 

“Just leave it, it really isn’t important,” Nora said blankly, turning away from Billie Dean before reaching the end of her sentence.

“Nora,  _ please _ — you know I can’t understand you like that,” With a single finger, she tilted Nora’s face towards her own. “You’ll have to look at me. What’s up with you today?”

Shrugging, Nora turned away again, blue eyes shimmering with tears. She was already starting to regret her actions, Billie Dean could tell, but judging by the way she clenched her jaw, she wasn’t quite ready to admit that to herself just yet.

“So that’s how you’re going to play this,” Billie Dean stood up, “ _ Fine _ . When you’re ready to actually have a conversation that is enjoyable and  _ understandable _ for the both of us, I’ll be up in our room.”

And with a loud bang— louder than she realised, she left the room, finally allowing her tears to flow freely.

  
  


Billie Dean was not sure how much time had passed when she woke up. Night had already fallen. Gentle moonbeams drifted through the cracks between the curtains, casting a soft light into the otherwise dark room. Quickly, Billie Dean snapped on her night light. She was never fond of darkness as it took away yet another one of her senses. Because of this; Nora had gotten her an old nightlight that used to belong to Thaddeus and when Billie Dean was asleep, she always stayed by her side. Nora may have had a cold or distant facade up, but she was kind, loving and caring to those she loved, which is why Billie Dean felt ever so puzzled with the way she acted. 

The green numbers on her alarm clock flashed, indicated that it was already nine in the evening. Her stomach grumbled. She hadn’t eaten anything since coming home from work hours ago, but what stymied her even more was that there still wasn’t any sign from Nora. Usually, when things like this happened, it would take them less than an hour to make amends. Then again, they rarely fought like this.

Suddenly, she felt the mattress dip slightly. She looked up, slightly startled. Nora sat beside her, a delicate hand resting on Billie Dean’s. Her eyes were red and instead of her usually perfectly styled updo, her blonde hair loosely hung over her shoulders. Slowly, she ran her hand up Billie Dean’s arm, settling on her cheek. With her other hand, she made a fist and held it against her chest, running it small circles.  _ I’m sorry _ .

Billie Dean’s heart leapt as she sat up, a bright smile tugging on her lips, but Nora held up her hands waggled her fingers at her,  _ wait _ . She crossed her fists, resting them against her chest and pointed at Billie Dean.

Smiling softly, she wiped the tears from her eyes and wrapped her arms around Nora, peppering her face with kisses. “I love you too,” she said, voice barely above a whisper. “Who taught you that?” she asked, signing along her words. 

_ Hayden _ , Nora signed the name slowly, accidentally messing up two letters but Billie Dean didn’t have the heart to correct her, not when Nora, who was beaming with pride, had spent all evening working this out and learning all those signs just for her.  _ I really am sorry _ , Nora signed.

“Hmm, it’s okay,” Billie Dean murmured. She leaned in close, brushing her nose against Nora’s in a loving gesture before pressing a sweet kiss to her lips. “But why don’t you start by showing me just how sorry you are?”


End file.
